The PVC Trigger Release

One of the oldest problems in archery has been in getting a clean and consistent release. A bad release can ruin an otherwise perfect shot. Leather gloves, tabs, even rings of metal, bone,and stone have all been used to augment the hand in drawing and releasing an arrow. Today there are a plethora of release aids both mechanical and stationary to choose from.

My favorite style of release, made of 2 layers of PVC.

The release aid that I've fallen in love with is a simple trigger, based on a design that never really made it when it was invented. Some users in the Google+ PVC archery community have even started calling it the Tomihama release, though the true credit for this design goes to Glen Klaurens, inventor of the 6-Gold trigger release. It was one of the early modern trigger releases and even contributed to the later invention of other release styles. Sadly this particular release never really made it, though it worked well and the design was ingenious.

While not exactly like the 6-Gold, my original prototype looks very similar.

It is simple, basically a ring for the middle finger with a small hook and a trigger-like tab for the index finger to hold onto. The hook locks onto the string below the arrow, the middle and index fingers are used to draw the bow, and the index finger is pointed forward at full draw to release the string and arrow cleanly. The thing that drew me to this style of release was the small size and lack of any mechanical workings.

After handling and shooting an original brass 6-Gold release, I decided to build my own. PVC is so easy to work with, I made a prototype with the two halves of a flattened PVC pipe glued together. It worked so well, the laminated PVC technique became my favorite method for making these releases. Even though I've made some with other materials, PVC is still my favorite.

I call this one the Chameleon as it's easy to lose if you put it down. It's made of 1/4" thick acrylic plastic in Josh's modified 3-finger style.

Once I started using this release, I began messing around with adding a second tab for the ring finger. I quickly realized that not only was this newly modified release more comfortable to use, but allowed a more natural draw. The 3 finger draw also allowed me to anchor to the same spot as using fingers, but with a cleaner release that wasn't affected by string pinch. String pinch, which is a problem with shorter bows, is where the bow's string angle forced your fingers together in the V shape of the fully drawn string. This is not only painful but can make a clean release very difficult.

With its ability to overcome string pinch, the PVC trigger release became the answer to a problem I had when putting together my book, Take-Down Archery. Part of the goal of the book was to allow an archer to build a whole kit that could be broken down and stored anywhere. One of the problems with the short bows in the book was hard string pinch. The PVC release fit perfectly as it was small and completely waterproof, something that you can keep in a kit or on your person at all times.

The templates below are from my book, Take-Down Archery. To make one of these releases, just copy the template onto the material of choice, drill the finger hole, and then cut and shape the release until it is smooth. These work well in PVC, heat a 4 inch length of 1" Schedule 40 PVC and flatten it completely, then cut the two halves apart and glue them together with hot glue or epoxy to make a solid slab. Dense and straight-grained hardwoods, horn, bone, metals, and other materials all work as well.

The templates coming up were designed by my friend Josh, who based his designs on the releases from my book. The curved string hook offers more security than the simple flat hook, though it is a little louder at release than the flat hook. His design also puts the ring finger tab further back, encouraging a more natural finger alignment that makes the release very comfortable to use.

So there it is. Go ahead and give this style of release a try and let me know what you think!

-Nick

Mini PVC Crossbow Tutorial

A couple of years ago, I wrote a short story about getting distracted while trying to write a short story and building a crossbow instead. I ended up putting that story plus a mini-crossbow tutorial up on Amazon's Kindle and also featured the crossbow in the video below.

Since my regular website is now down and I'm working on a new site, I've moved the original crossbow tutorial here. Enjoy!

A Hui Hou! Goodbye Hawaii!

As some of you may know, I'm moving from my tropical home in the island state of Hawai'i to the mainland. So right now I'm writing from my brother's house in Washington state. Everything is looking good so far and I'll try to keep all of you posted on my whereabouts as I travel.

Before I left I managed to build 2 final bows, my 15th and 16th bows of the year. Here they are for your viewing pleasure.

The first bow was a gift for a friend who had wanted to build a bow with me but I ran out of time. The second is a bow for fellow PVC bowyer Hawaiiarcher84 on Youtube. Both are wrapped in vinyl and stitched up the belly side. It's a technique that has been my favorite for finishing bows, but due to the time-intensive nature not one I use very often. One of these days I'll show you all how to do it.

That's it for now, I'll see you all next time!

-Nick

Goodbye Hawaii, you've been good to me.

The Big Brother Bow

Sometimes when building bows, you get really attached to one of them. That is the case of my 12th bow of the year, the 50#@28" schedule 80 horsebow with schedule 80 siyahs. I didn't really like it much at first but it has grown on me. So much so that it is one of the very few bows coming with me.

Some of you know I'm leaving the island state of Hawaii and moving to the mainland next month. On the way, I'm going to be visiting my older brother and his family in Washington state. You could say that he's really my big brother as he stands at 6'5" compared to my 5'9". And while we are both very different, we are alike in some ways as brothers are.

Since I'm bringing my new favorite bow with me to visit my brother, it seems only fair to bring its big brother along too.

I'm calling it my Big Brother bow, my 14th official bow of the year. It pulls 50 pounds at my brother's 31 inch draw and is 48" long nock to nock. It's a little longer than my bow and started at 51" compared to my bow's 48". All in all it's a fast little bow and while it safely takes a 31 inch draw, it's still only around 46 inches strung. If all goes well my brother might get bitten by the archery bug.

-Nick


This bow is a good example of how to scale a bow design up or down to fit a certain weight or draw length. My two latest PVC bow books (Simple PVC Bows and Take-Down Archery) have charts that show how to get certain draw weights and lengths by changing the length of the starting pipe. This bow was scaled up using the same idea as the charts.

Basically I use a simple rule of thumb that applies to most bow designs and sizes. Keep in mind that as you get very close to or very far away from a pipe's comfortable length (the length is performs best at) this rule of thumb won't work as well.

Adding or subtracting 1 inch from the starting length of pipe will change the draw weight by about 2.5 pounds (give or take about 2.5 pounds or so). If you want to keep the same draw weight but change the draw length, add or subtract 1 inch from the pipe for every inch of draw. So this bow went up 3 inches to increase the draw by 3 inches. The 3 inches extra also dropped the weight at 28" to about 40-45 pounds.

Shooting a 35# Horsebow With Red Oak Siyahs

It was a lot of fun helping my friend build his first bow. It pulls 35 pounds at 28 inches and is a snappy little bow. Check out the finished bow in action!

I'm always willing to help people build their own bows and show them how to make PVC bows. If you're ever in my area (or I'm in yours), let me know and maybe we'll make a bow or two!

-Nick T